Patricia Letayf
Patricia Letayf is a sophomore from Salem, NH. She is majoring in International Relations with a concentration in the Middle East and minoring in Economics. Because both her parents were raised in the Middle East, she is interested in studying Lebanon and the impact this small country has on its border countries—Israel and Syria. In addition to participating in NIMEP, Patricia is on the boards of Pangea and the Catholic Community at Tufts and is currently planning an after-school reading program for fourth and fifth graders at the Columbus School in Medford. In her free time Patricia likes to laugh and eat cake--preferably at the same time
Ben Gittleson
Ben Gittleson is a sophomore majoring in international relations, with a concentration on the Middle East, and minoring in Arabic. Originally from outside Washington, D.C., Ben first became involved in politics by interning in his U.S. congressman’s district office during the summer of 2006. This past summer, he interned in D.C. with a non-profit, the Association for Safe International Road Travel, lobbying senators and congressmen. At Tufts, he is a news editor at the Tufts Daily and a member of the executive board of the New Initiative for Middle East Peace, an Institute of Global Leadership group. On the NIMEP executive board, he serves as an editor of Insights, NIMEP’s journal. He is conversationally fluent in Spanish, and he hopes to become fluent in Arabic.
Soraya Alivandi
Soraya Alivandi is a sophomore from Cocoa Beach, Florida. She plans to major in International Relations, with a concentration in the Middle East. In the past, Soraya has interned with the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as on the local and federal level. She is on the Executive Board for the New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP), as well as a co-editor of NIMEP’s yearly journal, Insights. Soraya is a member of the International Relations Program’s Director’s Leadership Council. Soraya is also a member of the Women’s Varsity Fencing team, volunteers at the Tufts Daycare, and teaches ballet classes. Soraya studies French, Arabic, and Farsi and hopes to study abroad in the Middle East her junior year. Her research interests include Iran’s role in the international system, the emerging importance of non-state actors in International Relations, and counter-terrorism.
Mary Langan
Mary is a senior at Tufts who recently got back from a year of traveling and studying abroad in a variety of countries including Nicaragua, Tanzania and semesters in Spain and Uganda. She is very involved in campus including her work as an RA, TCU Senator, Marathon team member, ACLU president, NIMEP member and Tisch Scholar. She hopes to work in the international development/ international policy field and is currently applying to graduate school. As a International Relations major and Africa in the New World minor, she hopes NIMEP's focus on the Middle East will broaden her awareness and understanding of the challenges facing the world today and help inform her future opinions and decisions.
David Mou
David Mou is a junior majoring in International Relations and Economics with a focus on Global Conflicts. He was born in Vail, Colorado and loves to mountain bike, and ski. He is currently learning German and spent the past summer interning at the Pentagon. His interest in the Middle East has arisen out of a desire to understand the region that is and will remain at the forefront of American foreign policy. He is one of the co-chairs of New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP) and has been an active member since his first year at Tufts. David has been involved with the IGL since he was accepted into the 2006 EPIIC Colloquium Global Crises: Governance and Intervention. His article on Interagency Cooperation can be found in the forthcoming NIMEP Insights Journal. He is thankful for the many opportunities provided by the IGL and its generous donors.
James Kennedy
James is currently a Tufts University junior, majoring in Political Science, Middle Eastern Studies, and hopefully minoring in the Arabic Language. Currently, he is spending the fall semester with the Tufts-in-Washington program studying at American University and interning at the American Task Force on Palestine. The organization held its annual gala on Sunday October 12th, and it was attended by the Prime Minister of Palestine Salam Fayyad, numerous diplomats, domestic and international reporters. At Tufts, he is co-President of the Tufts University New Initiative For Middle East Peace (NIMEP), which is a student run organization that focuses on finding a just and viable solution to the conflicts in the tumultuous region. In January 2008, James traveled with the organization to Syria to participate in the annual research trip, and published my follow-up research in a piece in the NIMEP Insights journal, titled, "Looking Beyond the Golan Heights: The True Impediments to Syrian-Israeli Peace."
Amit Paz
Amit is a sophomore and is pursuing a double major in international relations and political science at Tufts University. Amit became involved with NIMEP during his freshman year after exploring different options regarding his interest in the realm of Middle Eastern affairs. Amit is an Israeli citizen and is deeply committed to trying to promote dialogue, mutual understanding, and respect amongst those who have a desire to see progress in the peace process. Amit is fluent in Hebrew and will be serving as the main translator on the NIMEP fact-finding trip this year.
Daniel Resnick
Daniel is a Tufts University freshman, who has lived in Brookline, MA; Haifa, Israel; and Sharon, MA. Daniel is extremely interested in Middle Eastern politics and culture, and was delighted to find the NIMEP group active on campus. Throughout high school, Daniel belonged to Interfaith Action Inc (IFA), a non-profit interfaith organization based in Sharon, MA. Daniel was on the leadership team for the youth program of IFA and served on IFA’s board of directors. Daniel looks to continue interfaith and cross-cultural work through NIMEP and Pathways, an interfaith program at Tufts. Daniel also cycles and is a die-hard fan of both Lance Armstrong and all Boston sports teams.
Khaled Al-Sharikh
Khaled Al-Sharikh is a sophomore at Tufts University double majoring in International Relations and Economics. He is currently the co-coordinator of NIMEP’s weekly dialogues and one of the principal editors of the NIMEP Insights journal. Khaled participated in NIMEP’s fact finding mission in Syria, and co-authored an article, “Moving Beyond the Golan Heights: The True Impediments to an Israeli-Syrian peace”, published in Fall 2008 edition of NIMEP Insights. Having grown up as a member of a Kuwaiti diplomat’s family, he lived in Japan (where he was born), Germany and Belgium. While he credits his diverse upbringing for providing him with a sense of international citizenship and a globally oriented view of the world, Khaled firmly classifies himself as a Kuwaiti and is set on returning to his country upon graduation. Khaled is fluent in Arabic, English and French. His main interests are the prospects of democracy in Iraq, the dynamics of regional hegemony in the Middle East and the impediments to peace between Israel, on one hand, and Palestinians and Israel’s neighbors on the other. Khaled’s hobbies are eclectic, ranging from reading politically oriented non-fiction books and watching the news, to eating out, going to the movie theater and playing video games. His self-admitted obsession, however, is soccer and his beloved team, Manchester United. He is currently also involved with starting up the Arab Students Association, Model United Nations, and plays for an intramural soccer team.